Chapter 16

CHAPTER

16

Vicki’s yell from her perch next to the front window alerted Matt to the new arrivals. ‘They’re here!’ He hadn’t heard the silent silver hybrid pull into the driveway.

‘No yelling,’ he said automatically as Vicki ran for the front door. Not that it did any good. ‘Granny! Grandpa!’ Vicki’s voice got even louder as she opened the door.

‘Hello, my darling.’

Sally’s voice carried into the living room as Matt got to his feet. He wasn’t in the mood for these visitors. He really wanted a quiet day with his daughter, and maybe a chance to try to understand his feelings towards Bree, and that kiss that he couldn’t seem to forget, no matter how hard he tried. But this visit had been planned a couple of weeks ago, and it wouldn’t have been fair to cancel it. For all that Sally and Brian intruded too much into their lives, he would never want to stop Vicki from seeing them. He just wished Sally would understand the boundaries he was trying to set.

‘Come in. I hope you had a good drive up.’

‘Not too bad at all,’ Brian said as he offered his hand.

‘I brought this.’ Sally bent down to Vicki’s level and held out a cake tin. ‘It’s your favourite. Red velvet with lots and lots of icing.’ Vicki put the tin on the coffee table and lifted the lid. ‘Ooh. Can I have some?’

‘Of course you—’

‘Not right now,’ Matt firmly cut off Sally’s reply. ‘We’re going for lunch soon. You can have some after lunch.’

His mother-in-law was glaring at him, her feelings clear in every line of her face. But this time he was more annoyed than her.

‘It’s very kind of Granny to bring you cake,’ he said for his daughter’s benefit. ‘Say thank you.’

‘Thank you, Granny.’

‘Now put the lid back on the tin and take it to the kitchen. You can have some this afternoon.’ And he would then no doubt have to cope with her sugar rush from possibly the thickest icing he’d ever seen on a cake.

As Vicki vanished into the kitchen, Sally straightened her back and glared at Matt with an accusing eye. ‘I was very upset to see Kim the other day with blood all over her. She said it was from an injured animal.’

Matt frowned. ‘Kim? You mean Vicki?’ He looked at Brian. Sally’s husband had heard the name slip and was frowning too. Matt wondered if it had happened before. And how often.

‘Of course I mean Vicki.’ Sally brushed her mistake aside. ‘I’m not at all sure she should be exposed to things like that. After all, she’s only six.’

‘I know how old she is,’ Matt said as quietly and calmly as he could manage. ‘We were visiting an alpaca farm and one of the animals was injured.’ He heard steps returning from the kitchen. ‘Vicki helped the injured animal, didn’t you, honey?’

‘I did. Bree said it was a good thing I was there, otherwise she might not have seen Digby’s cut leg and that would have been bad.’

‘We are all very proud of how you helped,’ Matt said, trying not to put extra emphasis on the word ‘all’.

‘When she came to dinner, Bree said I should go back out to the farm and visit Digby again. When can we do that, Daddy?’

Across the room, Sally’s eyes narrowed. Time to change the subject.

‘Soon, honey. Now, are you hungry? I thought to celebrate Granny and Grandpa being here, we could go to the pub for lunch.’

‘I want meat pasta.’

‘The pub always has lasagne for the weekend. It’s one of Vicki’s favourites.’ He directed the comment towards Brian, who was starting to look quite uncomfortable in the tense atmosphere.

‘Do you go to the pub a lot, Vicki?’ Sally asked.

Vicki shrugged. ‘Sometimes. As a treat.’

‘There are no restaurants in town,’ Matt said. ‘You’ve both seen the pub; it’s very much the family gathering place. Especially on the weekend. More eating than drinking for most of us. Let’s go.’

‘Before we go.’ Sally remained firmly seated. ‘I have another present for Vicki.’ She reached into her bag.

‘Ooh!’ Vicki scampered over and waited, a big grin on her face.

Matt bit his tongue. Another gift and again without talking to him first. He didn’t want to stop them giving Vicki gifts, but this was getting out of hand.

Vicki tore the wrapping of the small present. Her eyes were wide with excitement. ‘Look, Daddy. It’s a phone. Just like yours!’

Matt could hardly believe what he was seeing. ‘Can I have it please, honey?’

She placed it in his outstretched hand. Matt was no expert, but it was clearly a recent model and was no doubt fully equipped with chat and games and internet access. His blood ran cold at the thought of the traps waiting for his little girl on the internet.

‘We’ve put it in our name, so we’ll pay the bills. I know these phones are expensive to run.’

The suggestion that he couldn’t afford to give his daughter a phone was the final straw. His fingers closed tightly around the phone. ‘I’m sorry, Vicki, but we can’t accept this gift from Granny.’

‘Why not?’ Vicki’s voice rose in a wail.

‘Because you are too young to have a phone like this.’

‘No, I’m not!’ She didn’t actually stamp her foot, but Matt felt as if she had.

‘Is there anyone else in your class with a phone like this?’ He felt safe asking the question, because he already knew the school banned phones in the primary classes.

‘No. I’d be the first. It would be cool. They would all be jealous.’

Cool? When did his daughter start saying ‘cool’? ‘I’m sorry, but no. I’m giving the phone back to Granny.’

‘But—’ This time she did stamp her foot.

‘That’s enough, Vicki. Now, you should go to your room, shut the door and think about your manners.’

With a pout, Vicki turned away. As soon as he heard the door to her room close, Matt turned to Sally. When he held out the phone for her to take, his hand was almost shaking with rage.

‘How dare you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Who gives a six-year-old a phone? And what gives you the right to do that without talking to me?’

‘I was worried after that business with the animal blood. I thought it would be good if she could call us—or you—if she was frightened or lost or something.’

‘Sally. I take good care of Vicki. She’s not going to get lost. She’s a smart kid. And with that phone, she’d be on the internet in no time at all and would be exposed to all … that. Or she’d be playing games, or a hundred other things she shouldn’t be doing at her age. Take this back and, please, don’t ever bring a present for my daughter again without asking.’

‘Well—’

‘I mean it, Sally. Brian. I can’t have her being pulled in two directions like this. She’s only now beginning to bounce back from losing her mother.’

‘You want her to forget Kim. I won’t stand for that!’ Sally shouted.

‘Please lower your voice,’ Matt said calmly. ‘I can assure you I would never want her to forget her mother. And that has nothing to do with what we are talking about. Please put that phone back in your bag and take it home with you.’

‘But—’

Help came from an unexpected direction. ‘Sally. Matt’s right.’ Brian leaned over to pat his wife’s hand. She snatched it away. ‘We probably should all calm down, then go and have a nice lunch with Vicki. That’s why we came up here.’

Matt stood up. Before going into Vicki’s room, he stopped by the bathroom, washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror. How had things come to this? I’m so sorry, Kim. I didn’t handle that well. I just want to protect her. And I don’t want to stop your parents seeing her. But I don’t know what to do now.

As always, he was answered only by silence.

He knocked on the door of Vicki’s room before opening it. He found her sitting on her bed, her face stained with tears.

‘Oh, honey.’ He sat down next to her and hugged her. Hard.

‘I’m sorry, Daddy.’ Her voice was muffled against his shoulder.

‘And I’m sorry too, Vicki.’ He kissed the top of her head.

‘I don’t want to forget Mummy. But sometimes it’s hard. She’s been gone for so long.’

So she’d heard Sally’s accusation. She shouldn’t have to cope with that. ‘I know. I’ll always help you to remember her. The most important thing is to remember that your mummy loved you very, very much.’

There was a sniff against his shoulder and he gave her another squeeze before gently pulling away to look down into her face. ‘Do you understand why you can’t keep the phone Granny bought?’

‘Because I’m too little?’ When she was upset, Vicki always sounded even younger than she was.

‘Yes, you are. I promise I’ll buy you the right phone when you’re a little bit older.’

Vicki nodded.

‘And remember, Granny and Grandpa love you too. They want you to be happy and sometimes they make mistakes. Just like I do. And just like you do sometimes too.’

She nodded again and Matt pulled her into his arms for a few more seconds, holding her as if he would never let her go.

‘Now, you go and wash your face,’ he said as he released her. ‘Then we can go for lunch. And after lunch, the library is coming, so you can go and get some more books.’

‘I asked Miss Lou to bring more books about alpacas.’

He laughed. ‘Well, we can go and see if she has managed to find any that you haven’t already read.’

***

As they walked down the street to the pub for lunch, Vicki skipped ahead with her grandmother. Brian walked beside Matt, gradually slowing until they were a few metres behind.

‘Matt, I’m sorry. I had no idea she was going to do that.’ He spoke quietly so his wife wouldn’t hear.

‘I believe you, Brian.’

‘She was out of line. I know that.’

‘Please try to explain to her. Vicki loves you and wants to spend time with you both. I want that too. But this can’t keep happening.’

‘I know. She hasn’t … hasn’t dealt well with losing Kim.’ Brian’s voice broke as he spoke, and Matt felt a surge of sympathy for him.

‘None of us have. We should be helping each other and taking comfort from each other. But that’s not what she is doing. It’s as if she is trying to turn Vicki into her own daughter. A replacement for Kim.’

Matt took Brian’s silence as a form of agreement.

They were nearing the pub. ‘Look, Brian. Let’s put this to one side for the rest of today so Vicki can have a nice lunch and then a visit to the library. We can enjoy it together. But from now on, I have to insist no presents for Vicki unless you’ve talked to me first.’

‘Of course.’

‘And no more unexpected visits. If we can’t find a way to agree on this, then I … I’m going to have to restrict how often you come up.’

Ahead of them, Sally’s stride broke and her back stiffened, although she didn’t turn around. She must have heard. Matt cursed himself for speaking too loudly and too freely, but then changed his mind. Perhaps a bit of straight talking was what they needed to set matters right.